First I have played quite a few high quality f2p MMOs but none has convinced me to spend money on them, all except STO.

The biggest reason is because it's Star Trek and imo the game is pretty well designed and I want to show some gratitude [of me having fun] in return.

But I've noticed the appearance of lockboxes in STO and that irks me very much.
One it is a rather unethical way of making money out of your customers because the trade is never certain and two it made the impression of disrespecting your customer base by almost scamming them into buying more master keys.

Now the question why would they do this? I'd think any company with long term view on maintaining an MMO would probably not pursue cheap strategy like selling the lockboxes.

So do you think the game's life is not that far from its end down the road.
I want to spend more money but because of the lockboxes I loathe to spend money only to find the game services terminated not too far in the future.

When the game was released 2 years ago there were those who said that the game would end within the first 6 months... obviously they have been proven wrong.

The strategy to switch to F2P was a goal by Cryptic which their original owners (Atari) basically did not want a part of. This is why Perfect World (a company that is known for their F2P games) purchased Cryptic.

I can guarantee that STO will not be ending anytime soon (at least not within the next 2 years). They have the backing of Perfect World who has experience in this F2P market and know how to make money from such games.

Unless some crazy financial situation suddenly arises, I cannot see STO ending soon. The purpose of the lock boxes is simple: to get more money from players. There is no other meaning behind it.

The way they decide which items to sell is based on how much money they make. So if you do not like the lock boxes the best thing you can do is never buy anything related to them and spend your money on "normal" game store items or services.

Now the question why would they do this? I'd think any company with long term view on maintaining an MMO would probably not pursue cheap strategy like selling the lockboxes.

How do you feel about LotRO? They also just introduced Lockboxes; and Turbine's the company that started the whole Hybrid FTP concept.

MMOs are going to do whatever they have to do to stay in business. There's a world-wide recession going on and people have cut back on their hobby/vanity expenditures. WoW has reported losing over 2 million Subscribers in the last 2 years. The gravy days of MMOs, where you build it and they will come. has passed.

If you don't like the Lockboxes then simply do not buy them. I get a 400 point Stipend every month and I use that money to buy 4 Lockbox Keys. If I win something I really like, great! If not, no big deal. Since I get the points for free I don't feel like I'm losing any money by taking a chance with them. No one's forced to support any part of the game they don't like. The C-Store has enough cool items added each month that I'm still finding things to buy that have nothing to do with Lockboxes, and that's just fine with me.

Of course I won't be buying any master keys except maybe 1 or two for the gold lockboxes I already own. And that's a big if and the points would come from farming dilithium[time] instead my wallet. Though it is true f2p MMO developer/publisher may have the rights to come out with whatever money making strategy I'm questionning the appropriateness of cheap strategy such as the lockboxes from the ethical stand of view. Like it or not it may be interpreted as scam or at least feels like one. It also comes across as desperate. I never believed in buying the keys and always got rid of the lockboxes except for the two gold ones just for the heck of it.

I'm glad however to hear your opinions that STO is not ending soon. There are a few items I'm interested in buying. For the little ones I will farm dilithium for them but for the biggest ones I think I will spend my money on them. I really enjoy Star Trek and I think STO deserves some of my money. Afterall I do enjoy playing this game which is a beautiful game.

Believe me you are not alone with the doubts about the drop boxes.
Lot of long time players have stoped because of that, lot of people just avoid the c-store in general because of this, and a hell lot of people dislike that.

And.. I really want to see how someone wants to "garantee" that STO will be arround for a long time.
It failed once, it may not have been canceled after 6 month, but, after releasing the game with little content already, they just stopped adding any content after a year of its 2 year running time FOR almost an entire year..

F2P its STOs 2nd chance under a new company, Perfect world, whose reputation can be called questionable at best, because the previous publisher, Atari, abandoned the product.
And with drop boxes that MANY MANY people hate, and with almost on purpose dispersing a good third of the loyal comunity with that measures, I wouldnt bet on a long time survival.

So I suggest you make your own picture, this is for sure NOT as shiny as the previous posters want you make to believe.

Believe me you are not alone with the doubts about the drop boxes.
Lot of long time players have stoped because of that, lot of people just avoid the c-store in general because of this, and a hell lot of people dislike that.

And.. I really want to see how someone wants to "garantee" that STO will be arround for a long time.
It failed once, it may not have been canceled after 6 month, but, after releasing the game with little content already, they just stopped adding any content after a year of its 2 year running time FOR almost an entire year..

F2P its STOs 2nd chance under a new company, Perfect world, whose reputation can be called questionable at best, because the previous publisher, Atari, abandoned the product.
And with drop boxes that MANY MANY people hate, and with almost on purpose dispersing a good third of the loyal comunity with that measures, I wouldnt bet on a long time survival.

So I suggest you make your own picture, this is for sure NOT as shiny as the previous posters want you make to believe.

to be fair, they only had the so called content drought because Atari was selling them, they were busy with that stuff and the contract wouldn't allow them to hire new staff or do anything else that would substantially effect the value of the company. I should also mention that Atari didn't sell them because they were a failure, they sold Cryptic because Atari didn't understand how to run MMOs. If you're going to be a doomsayer, at least get your facts straight.

How do you feel about LotRO? They also just introduced Lockboxes; and Turbine's the company that started the whole Hybrid FTP concept.

My reaction to the treasure chests in LoTRO was to park my six level 75 characters and walk away. They started the hybrid F2P concept, and I'm hoping that they'll learn from their greedy mistakes when once profitable players all walk away.

Honestly, I don't think it will phase them until the losses truly become widespread, but it's the principle of the matter that mean the most to me, not the money. Since LoTRO went F2P I invested approx $1,800 in that game. Not much when one considers their overall profits, but in the long run the lost revenue really does add up.